A drone fell from the sky Tuesday and nearly landed on Austrian ski racing star Marcel Hirscher at a ski race in Italy.

The drone, which was carrying camera equipment, exploded into smithereens on an icy snow surface that Hirscher had crossed just a fraction of a second earlier. Hirscher was unharmed in the incident, which he joked about on social media.

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"Heavy air traffic in Italy," he wrote in an Instagram post immediately after his run.

Hirscher wasn't laughing, however, in later comments to reporters.

"This is horrible," said Hirscher, who finished second. "This can never happen again. This can be a serious injury."

The incident occurred during a World Cup slalom race in Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, a site that traditionally hosts slalom races at night on a floodlit slope. The company responsible for the drone is Swiss sports marketing firm InFront Sports and Media.

The World Cup tour is organized by the International Ski Federation, or FIS, and is skiing's highest level of competition. Drones carrying cameras have become a spectacular addition to World Cup broadcast footage in recent years.

Hirscher is one of the tour's best racers, with 35 World Cup race wins. He has won the tour's season title four times, including last season. He won a silver medal in the men's slalom race at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.